Merck acquires Chord Therapeutics

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20.12.2021
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Chord Therapeutics, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing drugs for rare neuroinflammatory diseases based in Geneva, is being acquired by Merck. The strategic acquisition enables Merck to expand its neurology pipeline.

Chord Therapeutics focusses on new oral treatments for rare autoimmune diseases. Merck will develop Chord’s lead drug candidate, CRD1 (cladribine), for the treatment of generalized Myasthenia Gravis (gMG) and Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder (NMOSD). The active substance in CRD1, cladribine, is approved in US & EU for oncology indications and multiple sclerosis. The safety and tolerability, as well as efficacy profile of cladribine, have been demonstrated in several thousand patients.

Chord Therapeutics was launched in October 2020 by leading healthcare venture capital firm Omega Funds, the sole investor in the Company’s USD 16 million Series A financing. Claudio Nessi, Chair of Chord Therapeutics and Managing Director at Omega Funds, added: “Our goal at Omega Funds is to back exceptional people and innovative science.  As the founding and sole investors in Chord, we subscribed early on to Arthur Roach’s vision that CRD1 (cladribine) should be developed in gMG and NMOSD. We are very pleased that Merck, with its resources and expertise, will now continue with the work we have started, to bring this drug to patients who need a safe and proven solution to manage their diseases.”

“Cladribine has a unique mechanism of action which is relevant in antibody-mediated disease such as NMOSD and gMG. In exploratory studies, cladribine demonstrated promising results in these diseases. These data have prompted us to initiate further development with cladribine in gMG and NMOSD to potentially bring a new therapeutic option to patients and expand our portfolio in this area,” said Danny Bar-Zohar, MD, Head of Global Development for the biopharma business of Merck.

(Press release / SK)

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